Piston-ring



G. H. CHANDLEE.

PISTON RING.

APPLLcATloN FILED Lum/16.1915.

1,360,498. Patented Nov. 30, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Ill

Moine@ lrisxriisr 'opi-*Flea GEORGE I-I. CHANDLEE, F WASHINGTON, DISTRICT 0F COLUMBIA.

rIs'roN-RING,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov'.y 3o, 1920.

Continuation of application Serial No. A766,801, led May 10, 1913. This applicaton led July 16, 1915.

' Serial No. 40,318.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE H. CHANDLEE,

- a citizen of the United States, residing at lli cation for Letters Patent filed May 10, 1913,

Serial No. 766,801.

It is Well recognized that one of the principal factors subversive ofthe eiiiciency of an explosive engine is the carbonization of lulbricatingoil Within the cylinder. Conseuently it is the practice to use a relatively light grade of. cylinder oil, but even this, ,when supplied in excessive quantities, as is frequently unavoidable, results in the gradual accumulation of'a hard deposit in the engine cylinder and on the exhaust valve. This deposit not only collects about and interferes With the action of the valve and the igniter, but under the high temperature f the exploding charges is exceedingly liable to be raised to the point of incandescence with the result that premature ignition of the charge takes place, driving the piston back in the cylinder and causingl disagreeable and destructive shocks inmaddition 'toimpairing and decreasing the eiiiciency of the engine.

Furthermore in the operation of modern high speed gas engines, the friction engendered between the rapidly moving piston equipped with the ordinary packing rings and the cylinder is so great that to preventv Wearing and scoring it is necessary to supply oil in such quantities that a considerable ortion of the resultant carbon, instead of belng carried from the cylinder with the exploded charge settles therein and accumulates around the exhaust valve, on the end of the pistons and the igniter, consequently greatly decreasing the efficiency of the engine.,

Another point to be ltaken into consideration with present day gas engines is that the peripheral cross diameter of the pistons must be relatively wide, for if a narrow piston be employed the gaseous charge is liable to leak past the same from one side of the piston to the other. Consequently such a Wide piston naturally provides a relatively large frictional contact surface which yabsorbs a large percentage of the energy oi'Y the engine.

I have found by experience that such deti riments as carbonization and frictional Wear on the engine may be remedied and eliminated to a marked degree by the use of piston packing rings embodied in my invention, and at the same time the cylinder will be eiiiciently lubricated with a minimum consumption .of oil, thus not only avoiding the objections incident to the excessive use thereof, as above setfforth, but also attaining a considerable saving in the amount and consequently the cost of the lubricant.

In the practice of my invention, I equip the ordinary gas engine with a suitable number of pac ing rings, each of which is formed With a series of novel peripheral grooves Which'are designed to receive the lubricant until the level of the lubricant in each groove lies atthe outer edge of the Webs or solid parts of the ring forming the Walls of the groove. As a result of this construction, While the total Width of such ring may-be the same as that commonly emplo ed in.;r the a-rt, the frictional bearing suriziice constituting the solid parts of the rin will be half, or less than half of such or inary ring. This AWill be seen from the fact that my piston ring may be considered made of alternate circular Webs and separated rings of lubricant, the latter during the reciprocation of the piston being confined in major part in the groove by the circumscribing Walls of the cylinder. Thus the lubricant in the groove actsalso as a seal to prevent the escape'of gases from one side of the piston to the other, and I attain the same advantages in this respect as, are inherent in the ordinary wide piston ring Without the disadvantages of frictional Wear on the cylinder Walls. Furthermore, I propose to so construct the Webs forming the grooves in the ring, that the outer or peripheral edges ofthe Webs are relatively thin so that they may be readily Worn to compensate for, and accommodate the form of ring to any irregularities in the inner Wall of the cylinder.

With the above recited objects and others ilo `taken through a cylinder of a gas engine equipped with my invention, the piston bein shown in elevation.

ig. 2 is a similar view taken through a portion of an engine cylinder and showing the piston in elevation and as equipped with two forms of packing rings embraced in my invention. ,i

Fig. 3`is'a detail sectional view of a portion off-one form of piston ring embodying my invention.

Fig. 4 is a detail elevation of the piston ring.

Referring now to the accompanying drawingsin detail, the letter A designates an ordinary form of engine cylinder provided with the usual water acket B. `rWithin the cylinder reciprocates the piston C, which in the present instance is shown as provided adjacent the ends with circumferential grooves l, constructed in accordance with my invention.

The ring as illustrated comprises an an! nular body 2 which may be of cast iron or other suitable material and is provided at its outer periphery with a series of circumferential webs 3. These webs 3 are made by forming the annular casting with a series of spaced grooves 4, each groove being separated from the neighboring grooves by one of the webs. Upon reference to Fig. 3 of the drawings, it will be seen that the webs are approximately V-shaped in cross section with the peripheral. edge 4 of each web forming a bearing surface which contacts with the inner wall of the cylinder during the reciprocation of the piston.A The grooves 3 of course narrow as they recede into the body ofthe annular casting, the bottoms or apices of the grooves being formed by the bases of thewebs.

Upon reference to Fig. 4 of the drawings, it will be noted that the ring is milled to form a stepped lap, thus permitting the ring to be compressed when forced into thecylinder with the piston, so that by its resiliency, it will fit snugly against the inner wall of the cylinder with the desired result.

When a ring ispositioned in its groove 1- in the piston, as shown in-Fig. l, it will be seen that the circumferential grooves form-l ing pockets for the reception of thelubricating oil whichpwill be confined to some extent by the surrounding cylinder wall so' that the ring to allintents vand purposes is made up )of tapered circumferential webs alternating with oppositely tapered rings of lubricatingoil 6. -As the piston reciprowebs and the rings of lubricant contained therebetween, prevent the escape of gas from one side of the piston to the other.

Now itv is evident that my ring has approximately one-half or less than half of the frictional contact surface of the ordinary 4piston ring, although it is of the same body- Width as the ordinary ring. This reduced frictional contact surface is due to the tapered form of the spaced webs, the reduced outer edges of which are the only vparts of the ring which contact with the cylinder wall.

Therefore thesame amount of lubricant is not needed as is required for a modern high speed engine having the piston rings made with continuous or unbroken peripheral carbon generated is relatively small. Thus, instead of'settling-in the cylinder the carcylinder contacting surfaces, and conse-f 1quently after each explosion in an engine equipped with my invention, the amount of bon will be carried through the exhaust with the exploded charge.' In other words,- in reducing by fully one-half the amount of cylinder oil required for proper lubrication, I correspondingly reduce the resultant carbon so that after each explosion, the cylinder does not contain av quantity of carbon whichl is so excessive Vthat it cannot be carried ou with the exploded charge.

It will be noted that bythe employment of a method and means herein described, the

frictional contact surface of the pistonis K greatly reduced and at the same time excessive carbonization is avoided, the result being that the eiiiciency yof the engine is increased and the life of the working parts end face of the ring is at right angles to the ring axis and to the cylinder wall, while the adj acentwall of the lowermost circumscribing groove, is at an acute angle to the ring axis and to the cylinder wall and is in outward convergent relation to theV said end wall. The result 'isthat in the down stroke,

cylinder wall, permitting only a small quantit'y to pass into the groove. This is because the end face is at right angles to the cylinder Asurface from which it is scraping oil.

the lowen end face scrapes the oil from the y On the up stroke, the? lower wall of the cir- Furthermore, it will be noted that the successive-lines of contact between the lower groove and the 'upper end face of the ring,

serve toretard the flow of oil from the lower groove past the upper end face of the rlng,

to a greater degree than is the flow of oil retarded from the lower f groove past the lower end t'ace. In other words, more of the oil that is intercepted by the ring is turned back toward the crank case, than is permitted to find its way. ultimately above the ring, all in performance of a fundamental objec- `tive of the present invention, which is to kprevent carbonization. v

What I claim is: u. 1. A resilient packing ring for effecting a quick Wearing fit to a cylinder wall, hav ing circumscribing grooves in its cylinder' contacting periphery, with mutually adyacent walls of adjacent grooves converglng toward and meeting at said periphery, with resultant ribs whose vertexes constitute substan-i tially the entire intial cylinder contacting portion of the ring. 2. A resilient packing ring for effecting a quick wearing fit to a'cylinder wall, having a continuous succession of circumscribing grooves in its cylinder-contacting perphery, with mutually adjacent walls of adjacent grooves converging toward and meeting at said periphery, with resultant ribs whose vertexes constitute substantially the entire initial cylinder .contacting portion of the ring.

3. A resilient packing ring for effecting a quick wearing fit to a cylinder Wall having its cylinder-contacting face circumferentially grooved with a plurality of' resultant circumscribing ribs, the side walls of each of'which ribs meet at the said periphery and afford a contacting line which lines constitute substantially the entire initial cylindercontacting portion of the ring.

4. The method of effecting a fit between a cylinder and the longitudinally extensive portions of a contacting periphery` of a resilient piston ring therein, which consists in circumferentially grooving the outer. pe-

riphery of the ring with resultant spaced circumscribing ribs having convergent walls and resultant peripheral'cylinder-contacting lines, that constitute substantially the entire initial contacting portion of the ring, placing the ring within the cylinder and then rej ciprocating the ring with its outer periphery in contact with the inner periphery of the cylinder until the lines of contact are 'worn down and resultant longitudinally eiitensive spaced contacting surfaces for the ring ensue.

5. A resilient packing ring having its cylinder-contacting face circumferentially grooved, with a plurality of resultant endless ribs, the side walls of each of which ribs meet at the `periphery and afford a cylinder contacting line which lines consti-v tute substantially the entire initial cylinder contacting portion of the ring, the outer walls of the ribs being at right angles to the axis of the ring toeffect an efiicient scraping of the wall of the cylinder in both directions of the movement of the ring therein.

6. A resilient piston packing ring having faces converging to one or more peripheral line contacting edges constituting substantially the entire initial cylinder contacting portion of the rino". M

7. A resilient piston packing ring having faces converging to one or more peripheral face disposed at an angle to vthe ring axis and having a fcircumscribing, peripheral groove, the side wall of the groove next said crank end face substantially meeting said crank end face at its outer edge in outwardly convergent relation thereto, said wall of the groove being at an angle Ato the ring axis that is less than the angle of said crank face to the ring axis. V

10. In an explosive engine, a piston, a resilient piston ringl having its crank end face disposedat right angles to the ring axis and having a concentric groove, the wall of the groove next `said crank end face substantially meeting said crank end face at tion thereto.

11. The combination with an explosive x engine piston, of a resilient packing ring thereon, the ring having a concentric-groove at its crank end face, the Wall of the groove at the clank side of the groove being in outwardly convergent relation to the crank end face of the ring, k*which crank end face of' rection,`wherein the side Walls of the rib are disposed at anles of different degrees to the axis of the ring.

13. An explosive engine resilient piston packing ring for effecting an initially quick and gradually retarded Wearing contact with the cylinder Wall, wherein the cylinder contacting face consists substantially of one or more circumferential ribs, of which the side surfaces converge toward and substantially 10 meet at the peripheryeof the ring. In testimony whereof, I affix my signature,

. in the vpresence of a Witness.

GEORGE H. CHANDLER. Witness: Y

A. ELLIsoN. 

